


Too Young To Love, Too Old To Play

by AggressiveStress



Series: One-Shots With A Bunch Of Children [2]
Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Birthday Party, Cuddling & Snuggling, Devious Louis, Devious Niall, Everyone's Young, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I honestly have no idea, Is it underage kissing?, It's 2 In the Morning How Do I Tag, It's Niall's Birthday and Things Happen, Like it's tooth rotting sweet, M/M, Niall and Louis do a prank?, Sleepovers, Some Humor, Sorry about the grossly sweet parts, Sorry about the summary, The fluffiest thing I've ever written, Truth or Dare, Underage Drinking, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 07:43:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2101278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AggressiveStress/pseuds/AggressiveStress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Niall Horan has a birthday party, it's a big deal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Young To Love, Too Old To Play

**Author's Note:**

> You guys I don't know. This is like 17 pages long and idk how that happened. I don't even know what series I should put this in. Do 13 and 14 year olds still count as children?

"WELCOME _TO THE 13th BIRTHDAY OF NIALL HORAN!”_ the sign read.

That’s where it started. Ages of ten and up shuffled under the sign, laughing and speaking to the other kids around them. The party would start any minute and they were all happy to be there, all happy to be entering or finishing their years in middle school. Of course there were mostly guys but the girls that did show up huddled together and watched the boys, giggling and gossiping about how _cute_ that one is or how _funny_ that one is. The boys were messing around, goofing off with each other and commenting about how _hot_ that one girl got over the summer.

“Just remember to be nice, Niall,” Maura said to her son earlier as they were sitting down for breakfast. “I know that some of your guests aren’t people you really talk to, but you treat them like they’re your best friends. Be the good boy I know you are, yeah?”

Niall had swallowed the cereal in his mouth, milk dribbling down his chin, before he nodded and replied, “Yeah Mum. I promise I’ll be good.”

But Niall already had plans and pranks forming with the help of his best mate, Louis.

Niall was quite known around middle school. He had decided to throw his birthday early in August so it would at least be warm enough for a pool party (honestly, he just really wanted to check out some girls in bikinis and even some shirtless guys like every other tween). The actual day of his birthday would be in the next month, but it would be too cold then. It was an honor to be invited to Niall Horan’s birthday party. His closest friends were the only ones invited, really. The friends included Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson, Eleanor Calder, Danielle Peazer, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Perrie Edwards. Josh Devine- Niall’s crush since forever- was on his way to the beach and wasn’t able to make it. They had been a group since early kindergarten and pre-k days.

Then there were those kids in line that were invited because Niall was popular and he had followers. Everyone knows how middle school and high school worked. The more kids to come, the more he’d be known when high school started. So there were many kids that just handed Niall his present and then went inside to chat with other kids. Most of those kids were just there like background noise. He wouldn’t really pay any attention to them, but they’d give his party a good review the next day. Those were the kids that would go home after a couple hours of eating and messing around in the pool.

Liam was the first person to arrive, punctual as per usual. “Ni!” he grinned, pulling his best mate into a tight hug, “Happy early birthday!”

"Thanks, LiLi!” Niall eagerly returned the hug.

“Just to let you know, great plan about the pool party. I envy your evil mind.”

Niall shrugged, a grin smugly lifting his mouth, “What can I say, mate? I’mma genius, really.” Liam laughed and went inside; Zayn stepped up to give a greeting to Niall like Liam had done.

Louis and Harry were playing around with each other in line, as always. Harry rolled his eyes when Louis attempted to touch his tongue to his nose, really put his all into it. A second later, Harry cracked one of his terribly cheesy jokes and Louis slapped him across the arm, telling him to shut up although he’s grinning. Harry was only twelve, two and a half years younger than Louis who had turned fourteen last December but the two were still best mates. The two were inseparable since the first day they met; they constantly hug each other, Louis puts his arm around Harry’s waist, Harry clutches Louis’ hand, and they just never separate for longer than a night’s sleep. Niall was amused when the two stepped up and fought over who got to hug Niall first; Harry ended up pushing Louis to the side.

“Rude!” Louis slapped Harry’s arm again, getting his balance back.

Harry shrugged, “All’s fair in love and war,” he answered.

“Wanker,” Louis muttered, but he wasn’t serious, Niall and Harry both knew. He’d be over it and Harry would be all over him in just a few short minutes.

Niall chuckled, “You two,” he shook his head and hugged Louis quickly before gesturing them inside for the party, too. He greeted the rest of his guests before everyone was inside and the party had officially begun.

Being at such young ages, some would think only minor things could happen at a birthday party. However, sometimes a party gets boring and extremes are taken to make it more interesting and fun. Louis and Niall sat on the pool steps in the shallow end, the water coming up to their hips as they speak in low voices as to not draw attention to themselves. They’re watching the non-group member kids splash around and flirt with each other; Louis sits back with his elbows on the step above the one they’re sitting on.

“Okay so Emma,” Louis nods to the redhead in the deep end where she’s sitting on a boy named Jeffery’s shoulders in her pink bikini, “is frightened by spiders.”

"We can work with that,” Niall nods, scans the pool. “Betsy nearly passes out when there’s a loud and sudden sound.”

Louis laughs, “Yeah. I remember her from that firework thing we did at school and she passed out only a few feet away from me. The teachers thought she was kidding when she told them that it was going to happen so everyone was freaking out. It was great.” His eyes roam- lingering on Harry before he tears them away, “Robert screams like a little girl when someone gets close to him with a spatula.”

Niall looks over at Louis, eyebrows raised, “No way.”

“It’s true, mate. Remember when Lucas Bradshaw had that cookout two years ago?”

“Yeah…”

"Well Robert was there and he saw Lucas’s dad grilling with a spatula; he went bonkers and his mum had to take him home early.”

Niall hummed, “Learn something new every day. So what do you want to do?”

Louis grinned, “I think we should pop a balloon with a spatula while you open a jar with some spiders in it and let them go on the patio. I know there’re some spiders back in your mum’s garden that we can get without problem.”

“Alright. I’ll get the spiders and you work on getting the balloon without my mum noticing.”

“Meet in the kitchen in ten?”

“You know it.”

They bump their fists together and split up. Ten minutes later Maura and Louis’ mum- Johanna- are gathering the kids onto the patio where the cake is set up so Niall can blow out his candles; Niall and Louis ready the stuff they gathered. The green balloon is tied to the back of Niall’s chair, Niall is hiding the jar of spiders in his hands under the table, and the spatula is shoved into the side of Louis’ swimming trunks under his shirt. Everyone’s singing Happy Birthday when Niall secretly unscrews the cap of the jar with the spiders; he leans forward enough so he can dump the spiders onto the patio without getting any on him. They’re halfway through Happy Birthday when Emma starts screaming and jumping around.

While the adults are trying to calm Emma with spiders crawling all over the patio; Louis unsheathes the spatula and hits the balloon. Betsy screams at the sudden noise, jumping; Robert stares at the spatula in horror before he suddenly lets out a girly shriek and drops to the ground. When the adults go to turn around, the spatula is hidden and Louis is feigning that he doesn’t know how the balloon popped. The commotion has parents worried, talking down Emma, Robert, and Betsy. They take Emma inside after shaking the spiders off of her, Betsy sits down and tries to calm her breathing, and Robert is hiding under the table. Louis and Niall share a look, both feeling a little bit guilty but everyone else is laughing, hands over their mouths to try to stifle their giggles although it isn’t working.

Harry lands an elbow into Louis’ side when no one’s paying attention. Louis cries out, “The hell, Harry?!” he hisses, holding onto his possibly bruised ribs.

“That was mean,” is all Harry needs to say because he always knows when Louis is the culprit for something.

Louis rubbed his side, feeling even guiltier now that Harry is scolding him. “It was Niall’s birthday present. You know how he likes to prank people,” but Harry is still staring at him, unconvinced and still disappointed. “I’m sorry?” Louis tries, pushing out his bottom lip in a very endearing pout.

Harry shoves on Louis’ shoulder lightly, “Just stop being a dick, yeah?”

“Hey, watch your language, Harold. You’re still only twelve,” Louis winks teasingly.

But Harry’s not having it. “You deserved it and the elbow in the stomach plus more,” Harry says before he suddenly crawls under the table to talk to Robert.

Louis looks to Niall, his expression clearly saying, “We fucked up,” and Niall nods his agreement. It wasn’t long before Emma, Robert, and Betsy were all calm again- thanks to Liam and Harry more than the actual adults- and the kids outside of Niall’s group left after watching Niall open his presents and eating cake. They took their goody-bags (Maura, Niall’s mum, had insisted on some kind of party favor) and left in the backseats of their mom’s van. Some even carpooled; Niall waved them off politely. Once they were gone and only the group was left, Niall was able to just be normal. He’s really an honest fool but he’s like any other kid, he acts cool around kids that aren’t really close to him.

The remaining parents left to talk in the study- that was the area where they could drink and complain about how irresponsible their children are. They wouldn’t be lying; Jay had it the worst. She was the one lucky enough to be raising the ball of uncontained energy that is Louis the Tommo Tomlinson with the constant pranks he pulls at home and at school and all the dangerous stunts he pulls to try and show off for his friends (aka Harry). Zayn, always the badass, snuck away while everyone was playing in the pool and he slipped into the Horan wine cellar. Moving all the wine to the side, he found where Niall’s parents kept the vodka; he deviously grinned. He grabbed a bottle and quickly ran back upstairs; he dumped most of the liquid into the punch bowl to mix it in with the innocent juice.

“Nice,” Niall commented approvingly from where he was watching at the doorframe, making himself a glass.

Zayn grinned, “Glad you like it, mate, because it’s your birthday present.”

“Couldn’t ask for anything better,” Niall toasted to Zayn, and then went back outside with his cup in hand.

It wasn’t long before Danielle wrinkled up her nose, taking another sip of her punch. “Ni, did you spike this?” she asked, smacking her lips. Louis cheered, holding up his drink and downing it; Harry rolled his eyes when Louis grinned, reached over, and stole away the rest of Harry’s drink too.

“You’re too young,” he explained when Harry stared at him, incredulous.

“So are you!” Harry exclaimed indignantly.

Louis shrugged, “You’re too young-er.”

“Well, did you Ni?” Perrie chimed, swirling the liquid in her cup around.

“Don’t look at me,” Niall held up his hands in surrender.

All eyes turned to Louis next, since he had always been the prankster. He rolled his eyes, “Not this time, chaps. But next time… probably,” he winked.

Eleanor giggled, “Nice, Lou.”

He lifted Harry’s cup to her teasingly; she blushed and quickly looked away. Harry wanted to glare at her head but she hadn’t done anything, and he didn’t know why he wanted to in the first place. There was just this boiling in his stomach that could possibly be rage, or… or something else? It wasn’t a familiar thing. He hadn’t felt this way in a while; the last time he felt like this was when Gemma got $50 dollars for Christmas and he only got $20 because he was younger. Louis made the point of laying his hand on Harry’s knee when he leaned over to search for his phone in his jeans that he shed when he wanted to be in his swimming trunks. Harry calmed down just a little because… Wait… was he _jealous_?

“So it must’ve been Zayn,” Perrie piped up. She grinned at said boy, “Hot.”

“PERRIE!” Danielle and Eleanor screeched, laughing when Perrie innocently shrugged, her grin still lifting up the corners of her lips. Jade huffs quietly off to the side.

Zayn mentally patted himself on the back when he looked behind Perrie to Liam, who was smiling and shaking his head at Zayn like he disapproved, but he raised his cup in Zayn’s direction anyway. Liam doesn’t take a sip though, so Zayn looks away. Knowing about the alcohol now, Liam carefully made sure no one was looking when he dumped out the punch in his cup in a nearby bush. Of course, Niall noticed but he didn’t comment on it, figuring Liam wouldn’t talk about it even if he asked. Harry and Louis started a conversation as always. Louis started laughing within seconds, and Harry grinned proudly as his best mate cracked up. Niall looked between the two, a plan brewing in his mind.

“Is he looking at me?” Eleanor whispered at the other end of the pool, clutching her cup tighter.

Leigh-Anne smoothly glanced over her best friends’ shoulder, but then she frowned. “Sorry, love. He’s still talking to Harry,” and she watched as Eleanor practically growled in her throat.

“Why the hell is he always talking to Harry? Why doesn’t he ever look at me?”

“Why do you care so much anyway?” Jesy asked to be polite even though she- and everyone else except for maybe Louis- knew exactly why.

Eleanor huffed, “Because I know he likes me,” she states like it’s obvious.

Danielle wanted to laugh her ass off, but she didn’t. Always the polite one, she says, “Are you sure, Love? He doesn’t seem to care so much about what you’re doing and what you look like…” she looked over Eleanor’s shoulder again to look at Harry and Louis. As always, the two were grinning and speaking about things that no one else in the group would ever find out because that was between _them_ and they were _their_ little secrets.

“Of course I’m sure,” Eleanor exclaimed indignantly. “It’s quite obvious that I like him so he has to like me too.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, El,” Leigh-Anne comments.

“Either way, I know he likes me. And he’s going to take me out soon. I’m sure of it.”

“How are you so sure again?” Jesy adds.

“Um, because _hello._ Next year I’m gonna be a cheerleader for his football team and we’re going to be the _it_ couple. Who wouldn’t want to be the _it_ couple of the school?” she grinned, proud of herself.

Danielle knew she was supposed to be supportive of Eleanor. They’re good friends, she should be encouraging her. But it was so hard not to laugh in Eleanor’s face because Danielle is pretty sure Louis is _gay_ for _Harry_. She wouldn’t ever speak these thoughts out loud. The two would shoot down the questions immediately, claiming it was gross and it wasn’t right. There was something in them though, something between them that couldn’t be denied. Well, Eleanor denied it; Danielle knew Eleanor noticed the way the two acted together but she probably blocked it out, claiming all best mates do it.

“I don’t know who wouldn’t, El,” Danielle finally managed to stutter out.

Eleanor grinned, “Exactly. You watch, Dani. He’ll be mine by this time next month.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Louis dropped his head on Harry’s shoulder, eyes closed against the water dripping from his hair. The pool had gotten old. They had all hung out in the shallow end for four hours, splashing at each other and just goofing around in general, but then it started to get darker and the girls got colder in their bikinis so they got out and wrapped up in towels. All the parents left, deciding the girls could spend the night so long as they stayed in a separate room from the boys. No one knew what to do, just sitting around and idly chatting. Niall got bored with it and suddenly stood up, clapping and shouting to get everyone’s attention.

“I declare,” Niall paused for effect.

“No,” Louis hopped up, “ _I declare_ …that you finish your statement before I slap you.”

Niall huffed and Harry giggled, grabbing Louis’ hips and pulling him back down. “No need to let sassy arse Lou out,” Niall said, pretending to be annoyed. Everyone calmed their chuckles and listened to Niall. “As I was going to say, I declare we all play Truth or Dare. To, you know, spice up this party.”

“Truth or Dare?” Louis raised his eyebrows, “That’s the best you’ve got, mate?”

“Well do you have a better idea?” Niall stuck his hands on his hips, waiting.

Louis shrugged, “Anything’s better than Truth or Dare. Everyone’s tired of that game.”

Harry frowned, “I’ve never played before.”

Louis looked at Harry for a few long seconds before licks his lips and says, “I changed my mind. I’ll play if everyone else wants to.” Harry smiles and Louis blushes when Harry happily kisses his cheek; the older boy convinces himself that the peck is completely normal and platonic.

Eleanor made up a plan. If she played, maybe she could get Danielle to dare Louis to kiss her or something like that. He could realize that he should be with her and _boom!_ she’s already halfway to being the _it_ couple all throughout high school. That’s why she was the first of the girls to agree, and then she gestured for the other girls to do the same. Huffing about Eleanor being lucky they’re friends, Perrie gave a simple _‘yeah, sure, whatever’_ , which of course had Jade, Leigh-Anne, and Jesy agreeing as well. They all eventually agreed. Gathering their things, Louis wrapped a towel around Harry and teasingly started drying his curls.

Harry swatted at his hands, “Lou. Cut it out,” he laughed.

“Stop moving, you bugger!” Louis giggled under his breath.

“Looooou,” Harry whined, louder this time. Louis slapped his hands away and didn’t stop until Harry’s curls were bouncing and slightly frizzy. “Now they’re all tangled,” he tugs at a stray curl with a small pout.

“Well if you would give me a moment,” Louis huffed, pretending to be annoyed with Harry. Harry stopped touching his hair as Louis ran his fingers through Harry’s bouncy curls multiple times to get them to the way he likes. There were a few harsh tugs and some hand slaps before Louis stepped back and admired his creation. “Perfect,” he declares.

Harry blushes, laughs, “Yeah?”

“Very sick,” Louis agrees. _Gorgeous_ , Louis doesn’t say.

“Well then maybe you should be a hairdresser,” Harry teases.

Louis rolls his eyes, “Yes, Harold, I would rather do hair than play footie.”

“And that’s okay, Lou, because I’ll support you no matter what.”

Harry wasn’t kidding; Louis could hear it in the younger boys’ voice. Louis was glad it was pretty dark so Harry couldn’t see the small blush blooming on his cheekbones, “Thanks, Hazza.” Harry smiles, ready to answer, until someone interrupts them.

“Um, are you two coming?” it’s Eleanor, hands on her hips a few feet away. Everyone’s waiting on the two, Zayn’s hand on the handle of the door, but not pulling it open yet.

“Oh, uh, yeah, yeah,” Louis says quickly, a little sheepishly.

Standing, they follow everyone else into the house and to Niall’s bedroom; Niall stays behind for a minute to tell his mum not to disturb their game. While he’s distracting Maura, Zayn and Louis work together to get the spiked punch upstairs and into Niall’s bedroom. Harry and Louis are forced to sit away from each other when Zayn sits on one side of Louis and Eleanor flanks his other side; Harry grudgingly sits across from Louis with Perrie and Liam on his sides. Niall shuts his door behind them and takes a seat, rubbing his hands together and laughing in the best evil way he can manage. Louis promptly reaches across the circle to hit Niall on the knee, telling him to cut it out and start the game since it was “your brilliant idea, birthday boy”.

“Fine,” Niall stuck his tongue out at Louis and then surveyed the circle, humming to himself. “Okay, so Jade truth or dare?”

“Of course,” Jade sighs then says, “Alright, Niall. Bring it on. I choose dare.”

“Woah!” Niall whooped, “Starting the game off with a bang! Miss Thirlwall I dare you to eat a spoonful of Tabasco sauce.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope. I’ll go get the spoon and sauce,” Niall jumped up and ran downstairs. Maura didn’t ask questions.

“This is the oldest dare ever,” Jade says, the spoon in her hand as Niall fills it up with the Tabasco sauce.

“But it’s still funny,” Louis points out across the circle, watching amusedly.

“Shuddup, Tomlinson, you wouldn’t be laughing if you were doing this.”

“But I’m not doing it… so it’s pretty funny,” Louis grins when Jade simply sticks her tongue out at him in retaliation. A few seconds later, Jade’s eyes are watering and she’s chugging down glasses of water all the while cursing Niall to the worst pits of hell that the Tabasco sauce came from.

Once she’s done hacking, Jade- red in the face- looks around the circle. “Leigh-Anne truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Out of everyone in this room, who would you want to date the most?”

Leigh-Anne didn’t pause, “Jesy. Zayn truth or-”

“Wait a second,” Jesy’s eyes were big, “are you serious?”

“Well, yeah. Out of everyone in this room, you’re the most sane,” Leigh-Anne laughs and then continues at if Jesy doesn’t currently look like she’s been slapped but in a good way, “Zayn truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Zayn grins, mischievousness sparkling in his eyes.

“I dare you to go downstairs and tell Miss Maura you think you’re carrying Liam’s baby.”

“You play a hard game, Pinnock. I’ll remember this.”

He steadies his shoulders and everyone follows him, staying on the stairs as Zayn disappears into the kitchen. Seconds later they hear, “What?!” and Zayn blubbering on and on about how he kissed Liam’s cheek as a dare and how he’s seen his daddy do that to his mommy _all the time_ and then his mommy gets pregnant. Maura’s staring at the little boy, mouth wide open and eyes big. The group bursts out laughing from the stairs, stumbling over each other as they rush back upstairs. Zayn stays downstairs as Maura starts to console him; the others get back into their circle.

“Props, Leigh-Anne,” Louis nods in the girls’ direction, “very nice.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Leigh-Anne stands to do a mock bow and then fix herself another cup of punch.

Meanwhile, Eleanor leans over to Danielle, whispering her plan to the other girl. Danielle is immediately skeptical, “El, I don’t think you should-”

“I thought you were my friend, Dani,” Eleanor pouts.

“I _am_. I just don’t think this is the right thing to do.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ve never even kissed anyone before, El. Do you really want to ruin that for someone who probably doesn’t have the same feelings?”

Eleanor glares, “But he does. Besides, I know for a fact that he hasn’t kissed anyone either, so this’ll be perfect.” Danielle gets ready to argue again, but Eleanor cuts her off quickly, “Thanks, Dani. I owe you one,” she winks and then goes back to her spot next to Louis, shooing Harry away in the process.

Danielle knows she isn’t imagining it when Louis purposefully scoots towards Zayn and away from Eleanor; she sighs. Perrie nudges her in the arm, “What was that about?”

“Eleanor wants me to dare her to kiss Louis so they can have their first kiss together.”

Perrie wrinkles up her nose, “That’s stupid. Louis doesn’t like her like that.”

“I tried to tell her that.”

Perrie bites her lip, thinking, “Okay, I’ve got your back. If you get picked before me... just let me take care of it. We’ll deal with her later, but I’d rather take her wrath than let you take Louis’.”

“Wait, what’s your plan?”

“You’ll see,” Perrie’s still grinning when Zayn marches back into the room and immediately chooses Harry.

“Truth or dare, Harold?”

Harry glances at Louis, wanting to do something that could impress Louis, but Harry knows Zayn and he knows that any dare the elder boy came up with wouldn’t be something impressive. Being humiliated in front of Louis is the last think he wants. So he says, “Truth,” and Louis nods at him with a tiny smile.

“Tell us one thing no one knows about you.”

“Um, okay,” Harry gets up and goes to his overnight bag, shuffling around inside of it for a second before pulling out a notepad. He hands it to Zayn, “I want to get this tattoo,” he points to a rough sketch of a ship, “and I want someone I care about to have this one,” he points to another rough sketch but this one is of a compass.

“Wow,” Zayn’s eyebrows hike up a bit and he passes the drawings to Louis next to him, “I didn’t know you can draw.”

“I can’t. This paper is really thin so I put the real drawing underneath it and just traced it.”

Louis runs his fingers over the drawing of the compass, silently wondering what it would look like on his arm. He passes the drawing to Eleanor without looking at her; Eleanor passes the drawings, barely looking at them. “I think they’re great, Harry,” Louis says seriously; Harry nearly beams back at him.

Eleanor scoffed quietly, “Why a ship and a compass?”

“I only had to give away one thing,” Harry shot back.

“Whatever.”

Harry put his drawing pad back into his bag then the game went on, “Danielle, truth or dare?”

Eleanor beamed until Perrie quickly cut in, “Actually, Harry, could I go?”

“Oh, uh, sure I guess-”

“Wait a second! That’s not allowed!” Eleanor finally seemed invested in the game.

Niall shrugged, “We’re going on house rules, Eleanor, and I say if Harry wants to let Perrie go then let Perrie go. Why does it matter to you anyway?”

When Eleanor refused to answer, Harry uncertainly went back to Perrie and said, “Truth or dare, Perrie?”

The blonde girl shrugged, “Dare, I guess. I’ll keep the trend going.” Louis grins and leans over towards Harry, ready to tell him a dare until Perrie says, “No. No, Tomlinson. You are _not_ allowed to make Harry use his turn for yourself.”

“ _But_ ,” Louis whined.

“I agree,” Niall says quickly, “House rules and all.”

Louis pouts and sits back; Harry pats his best mate’s knee like he’s comforting him. “Okay, Perrie, I dare you to… to, uh,” he looks around the room, “to put on one of Niall’s shirts and mess up your hair then go downstairs and asks Miss Maura for some water because your throat is really dry.”

“But that makes it seem like Niall and I… oh… _oh_ … Nice one, Styles.”

“That’s sick, curly!” Louis and Harry share a high five.

“How’d you come up with that?” Liam asks.

“Gemma’s told me all about her sleep overs with her friends when they stay over at Ed’s. They play this a lot.”

Niall laughs, “My mum’s going to have a heart attack before the night is up from Zayn’s pregnancy and now this.”

“She’ll be fine,” Perrie shrugs, “I’ll make up some other story once she starts suspecting stuff. Don’t worry, lover,” she winks; Louis and Zayn wolf-whistle at Niall, who reaches across the circle to hit both of them. Perrie stands and strips off her cover-up so she’s back in her bikini. Then she ruffles through Niall’s drawers until she puts on one of his shirts; she messes up her hair and then goes downstairs with the others staying on the stairs like they’d done with Zayn.

“Perrie?” Maura says a tad later.

“Sorry, Miss Maura, I didn’t mean to disrupt your reading. My throat’s just really dry,” Perrie replies. “The game’s getting really intense, you know?” and everyone can just picture the thoughts that must be running through Maura’s head by now.

“Perrie, do we need to have a chat?” Maura says slowly.

Once Perrie’s made up a story about how she just spilt punch on her cover-up, Maura lets her go back upstairs with the others. “Your mother probably hates your friends by now,” Perrie snorts as she sits back down, ignoring the snickers coming from some of the boys.

“At least you’re better than Nick. She loathes him,” Niall points out.

“Alright, let’s keep this going,” Jesy calls. “Perrie, pick your victim.”

“Louis,” Perrie looks to the older boy, a smile starting, “Truth or dare?”

The challenge in the blonde’s eyes make Louis pause. Then he shrugs, “I think I’ll break the trend and go with dare.”

“Fabulous,” Perrie roams her eyes along the circle then stops at Harry. “Louis, I dare you to kiss either Harry or Eleanor. Your choice.”

Harry ducks his head, blushing harshly although his mouth is turned down because he knows Louis won’t pick him. Louis wouldn’t kiss another boy. Not when he has a chance to kiss Eleanor instead; Eleanor who’s pretty, who has lady parts, who flirts with Louis constantly even though he doesn’t seem to notice. Eleanor is the opposite of how Harry’s thinking. She’s mentally squealing, flashing a big smile at Louis because she just knows that Louis will pick her especially since his only other option is Harry. But Louis is looking at Perrie like she hit him, and Perrie was wondering if she made a huge mistake. Everyone’s quiet, staring at Louis and wondering what he’ll do.

It’s a major kick in the gut to both Eleanor and Harry when Louis stands up and says, “I think I’m done playing for a while,” and he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him.

Perrie bites on her bottom lip, feeling like a major idiot. “Crap, I didn’t mean to-”

“We know,” Liam says quickly, patting Perrie’s hand comfortingly. “Harry maybe you should go talk to him...?”

Harry lifts his head and finds everyone watching him and waiting, “I don’t know…”

“I’ll talk to him!” Eleanor’s halfway up when Danielle reaches out and grabs her hand, stopping her.

“No, Harry needs to. He’s the only one Louis will talk to.”

“Um, I’m sure he’ll talk to me just like he would with Harry,” Eleanor scoffs.

“I’ll go,” Harry stands. Eleanor is ready to protest but Harry’s out of the room.

“So, uh, who’s next?” Jade awkwardly breaks the tense silence.

Meanwhile, Harry finds Louis back in the pool doing laps. The younger boy sheds his shirt and patiently sits on the side of the pool, sticking his feet in the heated water; he waits until Louis notices he’s there. While Louis does laps, Harry’s able to watch his back as his developing muscles flex again and again. Harry had come to terms with his crush on his best mate tonight. It was when Louis was fixing his hair with his face so close to Harry’s and his bottom lip sucked between his teeth; Harry had just known. He had looked at Louis and realized that he really had been jealous of Eleanor earlier; he realized he wanted Louis’ full attention on him. Harry’s still watching Louis’ back and arms when the older boy finally stops swimming, standing up in the shallow end and running his fingers through his hair.

Louis startles when he finds Harry sitting there, silently watching him with this weird look in his eyes. “Oh,” Louis tries to laugh a bit but it’s awkward and forced, “I didn’t know you were there. Sorry, mate.”

Harry shrugs, “It’s fine.” Then, “Do you want to talk?”

“Not really,” Louis sighs, “but I know that I need to so you understand why… why I acted like I did.”

The younger lad shakes his head, “You don’t have to explain anything.”

“Yes, I do.” Louis pushes himself up onto the edge of the pool so he’s sitting beside Harry; he purposefully doesn’t let them touch like he usually would. “I know that you and Eleanor haven’t had your first kisses yet, and I- I didn’t want to ruin something like that for either of you.”

“You haven’t had your first kiss either though. So you didn’t want to ruin it for yourself, too?”

“How do you know I haven’t kissed anyone yet?”

“Please,” Harry bumps their shoulders together, “if you would’ve kissed someone the first thing you would’ve done is rung me up to brag.”

Louis nods, “Good point, Curly.”

“But is that all? Louis, that’s fi-”

“ _And_ because even if I did want to kiss one of you, I didn’t want it to be in front of everyone. I want it to be special, and I guess private.”

“Oh,” Harry tries not to sound disappointed that Louis really did want to kiss Eleanor, “Well I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Who?”

“Eleanor.”

“Right,” Louis is silent for a second like he’s steeling himself. And he is. He’s getting ready for the rejection that’s surely to come after he tells Harry the truth. Then he says, “Harry… I didn’t- I didn’t _mean_ Eleanor.”

Harry immediately looks at Louis, his eyes growing a little, “What?” he chokes out.

Louis twists his fingers together nervously. “If I would’ve done the dare, I would’ve kissed you. But I didn’t want to ruin _your_ first kiss, and if I was going to kiss you I wanted it to be private and special and nice.” Any words Harry was going to say were stuck in his throat; Louis breathes out. “It’s okay. I know you don’t like me like that and it’s totally fine, I just thought you’d want to know.”

“You could’ve,” Harry manages.

This time it’s Louis who looks at Harry incredulously and says, “What?”

“You could’ve kissed me. I wouldn’t have minded… at all.”

Louis starts to smile for real now, “Really?”

Harry blushes even harder and swishes his legs in the pool, ducking his head down as he says, “Yeah.”

 “Well, I mean a dare is a dare, and you can’t just quit on a dare,” Louis slyly moves closer to Harry, pressing their thighs and arms together; Louis’ hand covers Harry’s on the pavement that surrounds the pool.

“This is very true,” Harry nods and he feels like his face might split because of how big his grin is.

“Harry?” Louis says quietly like if he talks any louder the atmosphere will shatter.

Harry glances up and that’s all the time Louis needs because he immediately moves, pressing their lips together in an unheated kiss. It’s awkward, of course, since neither boy has any experience, but Louis is suddenly cupping Harry’s face. Their mouths are closed but Harry’s hands find Louis’ hips and they hold on like he’s grounding himself because if he lets go of Louis he might float away or pass out. Louis moves one of his hands up, tangling his fingers into the curls he loves so much; he takes charge by slowly starting to move his mouth. They find some sort of way together, but Harry mostly follows the movement of Louis’ lips, hoping he’s kissing better than he thinks he is. It’s sloppy but it’s perfect and Louis is so glad he waited fourteen fucking years to do this just with Harry; he grins against the younger boys’ lips and Harry immediately smiles, too.

Louis is the first to pull away, but then he’s leaning back in and he’s just pecking Harry’s lips because he honestly can’t get enough of the younger boy that tastes like chocolate cake and the little bit of punch he managed to have until Louis stole his cup. Harry’s giggling, meeting Louis peck for peck; they don’t try to deepen it again. This is enough. Just the contact is enough; Louis removes his hand from Harry’s hair to tangle their fingers together. In the pool, their ankles interlock; they don’t stop the little kisses until they realize they actually do have to breathe to be able to do this more in the future. Louis reluctantly pulls away, eliciting a tiny whining noise from Harry that makes Louis grin. Harry’s free hand doesn’t let go of Louis’ hip and Louis keeps one hand on Harry’s cheeks, feeling the boys’ dimples appear.

“Was that what you wanted?” Harry asks in the quiet of the night.

Louis grins, “Even better.”

“Good,” Harry goes in for another quick kiss until the patio light suddenly flickers on.

“Fuck,” Louis murmurs, scrambling to his feet and effectively untangling himself from Harry just in time for Maura to push open the door and lean against it, both of her eyebrows raised.

“Boys, what’re you doing out here?”

Harry stands, too, and looks at Louis helplessly. The older boy nonchalantly tells Maura, “We were talking. Something happened during Truth or Dare that made me upset, so Harry came out here to cheer me up.” Harry’s glad Louis can talk so smoothly because he feels like his knees are made out of jelly so he doesn’t know how he’d be able to create coherent sentences; he figures that’s an effect that comes with kissing Louis Tomlinson.

Maura instantly loses most suspicion. “Oh, well are you alright now, Louis?”

“Mhm,” Louis nods, smiling charmingly, “all better, thank you, Ma’am.” Manners were something Louis always used when he was trying to get himself out of a situation with parents, teachers, and principals.

“Good. You boys come inside, yeah? It’s getting cold out and I don’t want calls from your mums tomorrow about you being sick.”

“Alright, we’ll be right in,” Louis promises with a sickly sweet smile.

Maura smiles back and then disappears back inside; Louis instantly reaches for Harry, pulling him into a tight hug. Harry hugs back instantly, finally feeling grounded, “What’s this for?” he asks in the silence.

Louis smiles against the younger lad’s neck, “For being there for me. You’re the best, you know?”

“I know because you tell me often.”

“Well, not often enough,” Louis laughs breathily. He doesn’t need to steel himself too much when he finally pulls away, puts both hands on Harry’s shoulders, and makes serious eye-contact with his best mate. “Hazza, do you want to be my boyfriend?”

Harry’s eyebrows hike up, “I thought it was already established that I was after,” he uselessly gestures behind him to the pool.

“But that wasn’t an official asking. This is. Now I need an official answer.”

Harry laughs again, half out of complete amusement and half because he couldn’t believe this was all happening tonight. “Yes, Boobear, I would _love_ to be your boyfriend,” and Louis leans in for another quick kiss, but they’re both grinning so their teeth knock together in the best way. Louis intertwines their fingers.

“Best. Birthday. Party. Ever,” Louis mutters, pulling open the door and letting Harry go in first.

When they get upstairs- hands still locked together- the group is scattered about the room doing their own things. Liam and Zayn are playing FIFA on Niall’s tiny telly, Eleanor and Danielle are painting their nails on Niall’s bed, Leigh-Anne and Jesy are talking and laughing while Leigh-Anne plays with Jesy’s hair, Perrie and Jade are playing Connect Four on the floor with pillows under their chests and stomach, and Niall’s on the phone with most likely Josh. They all barely glance up when Harry and Louis enter the room, still smiling and laughing like lovesick idiots; then everyone goes back to what they’re doing. It’s only seconds later when it dawns on the group what they’ve seen and everyone’s whirling back on the couple, eyes big.

Niall is the one that breaks the shocked silence, “Wait. Wait. _Wait_. Something’s different about you two,” he points at Louis and Harry.

Harry shyly ducks his head, waits for Louis to untangle their fingers and tell everyone there’s nothing different; he had suspected that Louis didn’t want anyone to know he has a boyfriend yet. He wouldn’t feel bad about it. He’d understand completely. Louis is older than everyone here, and he’s already in high-school with a great football position just begging to be taken by him; there’s no way he’d want to jeopardize his social status by being openly gay with a twelve-year-old boyfriend. But Louis just holds Harry’s hand tighter, tugging the boy over to a beanbag so he can sit and then pull Harry onto his lap where he wraps his lovely arms around his boyfriends’ waist.

“Harry, why are you so flushed?” Zayn teases, setting down his FIFA controller.

Said boy ducks his head, hides his deep red face in Louis’ neck. Louis laughs when Harry’s curls tickle him. “Oh la la you guys!” Perrie’s smiling widely, “It’s about time you got together!”

“Huh?” Eleanor seems to be in shock and denial.

“It’s only been, like, what… 12 years?” Danielle chimes in. She looks at Eleanor with barely a pinch of sympathy, “Sorry, doll, we tried to warn you.”

Louis tugs on one of Harry’s curls, proudly announcing, “Yes, Harry and I are now together just in case anyone was doubtful.”

While the group is chatting about everything from Louis and Harry finally being in a relationship to Eleanor being in denial, Harry lifts his head to whisper to Louis. “You didn’t have to do that. I could’ve handled it if you wanted to keep us a secret.”

Louis pulls back and stares at Harry like he’s absolutely bonkers, “Why would I ever do that? You are gorgeous, Harry. You are smart, funny, a great cook, adorably shy, and you’re my best mate turned boyfriend. I would never be able to keep us a secret. I’m too proud of _us_. I’m too proud that I finally get to call you _mine_.” Louis barely looks around to see if anyone’s watching them before he takes Harry’s face between his hands and plants another one on his slightly parted- in shock- lips.

Once the initial excitement has died down somewhat, Zayn suggests everyone gets in their pajamas and then they watch movies until they pass out. Everyone readily agrees; Eleanor drags her feet for the rest of the night, but she slowly comes to terms with the fact that Louis would’ve never felt that way about her. They work together to drags every pillow and duvet into the living room before they take turns getting ready for bed in the bathroom and Niall’s bedroom. Maura didn’t care that they were breaking the rule about girls and boys in separate rooms; as long as they were in the living room, they couldn’t exactly do anything. So she went to bed, telling them to just keep quiet; they all said a polite goodnight before they settled down on the couches and the handmade cot they made out of duvets and pillows on the floor.

Louis and Harry ended up on the loveseat; Louis laying down and Harry basically on top of him with one leg thrown over Louis’ legs and his curly head resting on Louis’ shirt-covered chest. Everyone got comfortable as Niall put in the Princess Bride- after a lot of arguing with the girls because they refused to watch Saw 3- and then Niall curled into a duvet and pulled out his phone to text Josh throughout the movie. The movie played. Louis played with Harry’s curls, Harry made patterns with his finger on Louis’ chest, Jade ended up with her head resting on Perrie’s shoulder, Liam and Zayn shared a duvet, Jesy and Leigh-Anne curled up together, Danielle sympathetically pulled Eleanor close to her, and Eleanor happily took comfort in her best friend.

“Happy birthday, Niall,” Zayn says out of the blue from where he’s idly playing with Liam’s fingers in their blanket cocoon.

“Yeah,” Louis hums, “happy birthday, Nialler.”

The group echoes it until Niall’s shushing them, “Oi, I’m trying to watch a movie here.” Everyone laughs and it's silent for a while as they watch the princess throw herself down the hill after her lover. “But, thanks,” Niall says nearly thirty minutes later when it’s no longer a conversation, but the group knows what he’s talking about and they all twist and turn their heads to smile at Niall.

“Hopefully next year Josh will join us,” Leigh-Anne teases.

In the glare of the telly screen, everyone can see the dark blush Niall is now sporting. “Oh, shush up, LA,” but he’s smiling against his blush.

Louis presses a kiss to the top of Harry’s head and he quietly says, "Hey, Harry?"

"Yeah, Lou?" Harry murmurs back.

"One day, I'd really like to be the compass tattoo to your ship."

"You're already my compass. All you need is the tattoo."

Louis grins stupidly, "You're the cheesiest person I know, Harry Hazza Styles."

"That's something you love about me, Louis Boobear Tomlinson."

Louis laughs, rolls his eyes at the nickname and Harry gets up on an elbow enough to kiss Louis moments before everyone’s drifting off, exhausted from that night’s events. The night of Niall Horan’s 13th birthday party.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk I might make a sequel. Thanks for reading gorgeous people!
> 
> xox- M


End file.
